Throughout his career, Nas has let the music industry get the better of him, filling his albums with monotone odes to the good life and R&B-crossover pabulum. The Lost Tapes — which collects a dozen stellar, radio-unfriendly, oft-bootlegged unreleased tracks from the last decade — is the Queens, New York, icon's mea culpa to the underground that birthed him. Over subdued soul loops and improbably mellow piano work, The Lost Tapes displays Nas' gifts for tightly stitched narrative and stunningly precise detail. The fantastical "Blaze a 50," the wistful "Doo Rags" and the melancholy "Poppa Was a Playa" are found classics, easily among Nas' best work and unlikely to be topped by many rappers this year, or the next. This is the real Stillmatic. - Rolling Stone, 2002. The press release done for the album said, "With a career spanning more than a decade, Nas has recorded enough quality material to make him one of the most respected rap stars around. 'The Lost Tapes' is a collection of unreleased underground gems that over the years have been either bootlegged, used as B-sides or hidden away in the studio just waiting to hit the streets. A number of guest producers appear on the CD including Trackmasters and Large Professor with the focus of the record being low key, subdued beats. 'The Lost Tapes' features previously unreleased tracks from 1999's 'I Am' to the hugely successful 'Stillmatic' recording sessions of 2001. There are no cameos and no gimmicks or hype on 'The Lost Tapes'. Put simply, Nas' mission is to 'keep it real'. 'The Lost Tapes' will be available in stores on Monday, January 20. Watch out for 'God's Son' - another new Nas release hitting the stores that week." This entire project --and the other bootlegs that surrounded it-- played an integral role in my re-entry into music; a topic I've discussed heavily in the past. Therefore, The Lost Tapes has added sentimental value to me, on top of just being an incredible compilation of music. A top 3-5 release in his catalog, revisit Nas' The Lost Tapes below...
Above is the cassette artwork, below are the CD images...
